Sunday, 26 May 2013

Lervig Johnny Low: Both tasty and low in alcohol?

The taste of summer!

Lervig just
released another beer, this time a 2,5% ABV IPA light. Finally a good Norwegian
produced low alcohol beer. Now you won’t need to buy imported low alcohol/alcohol free beers anymore like Brewdog Nanny State, Weihenstephaner
Hefeweissbier Alkoholfrei, Kapuziner Weissbier Alkoholfrei or the horrible San
Miguel 0,0%, or any of the shit that the Norwegian lager breweries produce as
an alcohol free alternative. All the mentioned beers above are lower in alcohol
than Lervig Johnny Low, but then again Johnny Low tastes more, and that’s why
we drink beer isn't it? Cause we like the flavors. With Johnny Low you can
drink a whole six pack in front of your kids without getting intoxicated, or
you can enjoy as a lawnmower beer, something to quench your thirst while you
work in the garden. Shit, you can drink and drive... :) Ha-ha, maybe not, but
you can probably enjoy a bottle or two at a meal with some friends and then
drive home afterwards.

Instant coolness acquired!

So what is
Johnny Low? A 2,5% heavily hopped unfiltered IPA, dry hopped twice as much as
Lervig flagship beer Lucky Jack. It got a basic IPA malt base of Pilsner and
Crystal malt, the hops used are Cascade, Simcoe & Citra. It's yellow and
unclear and when you pour it into a glass it leaves a small white head. It
smells like hops and tastes like hops and the hops carry the whole beer. It's a
thin beer, and not much malt is going on except a very small sweetness in the background, but it's not in a bad way, cause it's balanced and very refreshing. It got a piny, grassy and
citrus like flavor, and a great bitterness that lingers in the back of your
mouth for a long time after you've taken a sip. I really like it and I recommend it.

As far as I've
understood, this is a beer you can legally drink in the streets, and Norwegian stores
can sell it during all its opening hours. Hell, you can sell this beer on
Sundays, many BBQ parties will be saved this summer! It's a very sessionable ale and something I hope to see more breweries
make. Instead of bang for bucks, meaning more alcohol for your money, Johnny
got flavor for ABV, meaning it's tasty for it's low alcohol content. But doesn't people drink to get drunk? And the answer is there's a time for everything
and there should also be a beer for any situation. If you're into craft beer,
you're probably into it for the flavors and not only the buzz, right?

Share a six pack with a friend!

So far my
favorite low ABV brews have been Mikkeller's Drinking In The Sun a hoppy pale
ale and Struise Black Damnation VII Single Black, an awesome 2% stout. Yeah and
the last beer like this Lervig made for Evil Twin, Bikini Beer, great stuff! At Copenhagen
Beer Celebration a few weeks ago I tried The Kernel London Sour Raspberry, a
2,3% sour ale that were just amazing, one of the best beers at the festival,
super tasty, fruity and sour. My point here is that a good beer is a good beer,
and that it's possible to make highly drinkable low ABV beers in any style. I remember
talking to Mikkel Borg Bjergsø last year and asked him what his dream beer would
be, and he responded that he would want to have a super tasty 0% beer, that he
could just drink all day long. Even our friends in ABC Brewing have made a
"low" ABV beer, their 3,7% Firewood Stout got great scores on
ratebeer, haven’t tried it yet myself though.

Time to cut your lawn?

It's quite
trendy now, to make tasty beers with less alcohol and I believe a lot of
consumers will pick up on that when Lervig Johnny Low hits the shelves. This
batch was brewed in the beginning of May, bottled just a few days ago. Hoppy
beers are always best fresh, so don't wait, go get some now.But don't expect the stores to have this
brew in the shelves unless you and your friends go to your local store and ask
them to order it, now! Oh and if they do, fucking buy some! I know I will...